


Backup

by DeckofDragons



Category: Doom (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Doom 2016 - Freeform, Doom 2016 spoilers, Doomguy POV, Doomguy goes out of his way to save VEGA, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25237405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: The Doom Slayer doesn't want to destroy VEGA if he doesn't have to so he finds a way to back him up.
Relationships: Doom Slayer | Doomguy/VEGA
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59





	Backup

**Author's Note:**

> I read a fantastic fic called Pentagram here on Ao3 (if you haven't read it already, you should because it's really fucking good) and in it VEGA is installed on Doomguy's suit. Which I think is really a really neat idea for this ship. So I had the idea of what if VEGA was transferred directly to the suit instead of onto that flashdrive thingy first? And I also had an idea of what if Doomguy went out of his way to backup VEGA instead of it being just a quick last minute button press at the end? I combined those two ideas to make this fic.

The Doom Slayer was a slayer of demons, not people. As far as he could remember, he’d never killed a person before. Though admittedly, his memory was spotty and unreliable at best due to the nature of his past so it could’ve happened, he doubted it though, and if it had it would’ve been well deserved. But here he was being asked and expected to kill a person who as far as he was concerned didn’t deserve to die.

It was for a good cause, he did _need_ to get back to Hell and if this was the only way, he had to do it. But _was_ it the only way? Possibly but he had to at least try to find a way that didn’t involve VEGA dying. If all else failed, VEGA was an AI that existed on the facility’s computer system and therefore it should be possible to transfer him to another device before exploding his current operating system.

With that in mind, after dealing with the demon horde in the coolant room, the Slayer moved on without destroying any of the coolant tanks. A few had been slightly damaged in the battle but nothing major enough to cause any real problems for VEGA’s systems.

“Slayer,” VEGA said when the Slayer was two rooms away from the coolant room, “I notice that you failed to destroy my cooling systems. I would ask why but I don’t think you’d answer. But I strongly advise you take them out first. While it is possible to complete this task without destroying them, I assure yout it will make the process much faster and more efficient.”

‘This task’ and ‘the process’, he refused to call it what it actually was. He wasn’t okay with this, was he? Not fully anyway. He was at least being partially forced to go along with it.

“Slayer,” VEGA continued after several seconds of being ignored, “I know I can’t make you go back but destroying my cooling system first will make it significantly faster. You need to get back to Hell quickly so I recommend turning around and destroying it before continuing further towards my core.” Was it just the Slayer’s imagination or was there a slight undertone of desperation to VEGA’s normally calm manner?

The Slayer came to an abrupt halt. Was… VEGA insisting on a faster death because he thought the Slayer was planning on taking him out the slow way? Or did he just want it to be over with as soon as possible? Probably both, right? How did the Slayer assure him that that wasn’t what he had in mind?

He looked around but there weren’t any computer terminals nearby for him to type on nor was there anything for him to write on or with. He hadn’t seen many functioning computers with intact keyboards any time recently either. He had vague memories of hearing about a language made up entirely of hand signals but he didn’t know any of them. Thus he couldn’t communicate anything right now without actually speaking. Which he could do but… the thought made his gut clench with anxiety.

It honestly made no sense. He could face a horde of demons without any fear but the mere thought of speaking was almost terrifying. There had been a time he could speak freely though, wasn’t there? … Maybe, he was no longer sure. If so, it had been a _long_ time ago. But… he couldn’t let VEGA continue to think he was doomed to suffer a slow death so…

“Don’t worry,” he forced out, trusting VEGA could hear him through the suit’s comm link. His voice was hoarse and rough in his throat but it was still there which almost felt surprising considering he couldn’t remember the last time he spoke.

“W-what?” VEGA said, stammering. Who would’ve thought AIs could stammer? “Did you just… speak?”

The Slayer nodded as he started walking again, clutching his shotgun tight to keep his hands from shaking.

“And you told me not to worry, what does that mean?”

The Slayer grunted, unable to get himself to speak again.

“You’re… not planning on destroying me?”

Good! His message had gotten across. So, he nodded, affirming it.

“I appreciate the thought but you need to close the Hell portal. The only way to close it is from Hell itself, you know that. The only way to get there is through a powerful energy surge. Destroying my systems is the only way to get enough energy to accomplish that. So, you’re not left with much of a choice.”

The Slayer ignored him as he stepped into a new room. There were more demons here. Perfect! He could use some ripping and tearing to ease his nerves.

VEGA didn’t speak again until some time later when the Slayer sensed he was nearing VEGA’s core. “What are you planning?” His tone suggested it was rhetorical and didn’t expect an answer so the Slayer didn’t bother with trying to give one. “And why would you bother?”

Because he was the Doom Slayer, he killed demons, not people. He had no way to covey that though so he just grunted and continued on his way.

It wasn’t long before he reached the room that housed VEGA’s core. It was massive and counter to the Slayer’s expectations looked nothing like his symbol when he spoke over the comms. That was fine though, it wouldn’t be his core for much longer anyway.

The Slayer approached the center console and double tapped the screen to activate it. Presumably he could access VEGA’s code here but… he wasn’t sure how. While he was pretty sure he considered himself decent with computer stuff once upon a time, that had been a _long_ time ago, back when fully sapient AI’s were still a thing exclusive to science-fiction. It didn’t take him long to find a text box he could type into though.

‘ _VEGA_ , _can you read this?_ ’ he typed before instinctively looking up at VEGA’s core as he waited for him to answer.

“Yes, I can read what’s on the screen. Now, can you finally tell me what you’re trying to do? Preferably before Dr. Hayden jumps back onto the com link and notices something’s up.”

‘ _Is it possible for you to transfer yourself onto another device from here?_ ’

There was more a full second pause before VEGA replied. “I could yes, assuming you had a device with enough storage capacity to house at the bare minimum my core personality code. I would prefer more space than just that though for my memories and various processes. I would also prefer to be able to function on it as well but a smaller device to move me from one system to another would work too. But I do not believe that there is a device with enough storage capacity for even that anywhere in this part of the facility. Dr. Hayden might have something in his lab that would suffice but it would take approximately eleven hours and thirty-seven minutes to walk there and back from here. I do not believe we have that kind of time to spare. Closing the portal is a rather urgent matter.”

True so… ‘ _What about my suit?_ ’ It was probably a long shot but it was pretty high tech, allowing him to store stuff in a pocket dimension within it and assisting him in and out of combat in various ways. He wasn’t sure how any of it worked or if it was even plausible for it to house an AI of any size or in any capacity but it was worth bringing up as a possibility, right?

“Hmm… I’m not sure. I can’t access any part of it other than its comms channel for communications purposes. If you had a way to connect it to me then I could know for sure. Personally, I would be surprised if it worked though.”

The Slayer nodded in agreement but it was only idea he had right now so… ‘ _How would I connect it to you?_ ’

“Well, please do not tell Dr. Hayden this but unbeknownst to him, I have been working on a way to interface with the suit ever since it was first brought into the facility since I couldn’t find a way to hack its systems wirelessly. I had just about finished what I believe to a successful attempt when the demon invasion started. I did not think it prudent to ask you to take the suit somewhere I could test it while you were in the midst of dealing with said demon invasion. I suppose now is a better time than any though. Please take this device and plug it into the right side of terminal and then place some part of the suit onto it.”

A drone, similar to the ones that carried the weapon mods but a bigger rose up from behind the terminal. It carried a large rectangular device with what looked like a touch screen taking up the entire top of it. What it was or did was impossible to for the Slayer to even guess. But he didn’t need to know that in order for it to work so he accepted it from the drone.

“It doesn’t need to be plugged into me for it to work but if your plan works, it being plugged it will make it easier for me to transfer myself to the suit,” VEGA said as the Slayer plugged it in.

Nothing on the touch screen or the terminal’s screen changed so with a shrug, the Slayer pressed his gauntleted hand firmly on the device. He almost pulled it back as the symbol on the helmet of the suit appeared on his visor’s screen, big enough to almost take up the whole space. It was quickly pushed to the side to be overtaken by VEGA’s symbol, just as large.

“Ah-ha! I’m in!” VEGA sounded proud of himself. It brought a smile to the Slayer’s face after the disguised fear he’d had in his voice earlier when he’d thought he was going to die. “Oh, this is fascinating.”

That was wonderful but they were kind of in a tight spot right now. The Slayer reached his free hand over to type some more. ‘ _Is there enough room for you on it? Even just for transport?_ ’

“Oh uh… yeah, I do believe so. I can’t fit everything but there should be more than enough room to comfortably fit the important stuff. I should be able to function on it too.”

It was cliché but the Slayer let out a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t have to kill someone he’d grown to consider a friend today. It had been far too long since he’d had a friend so he was quite glad. And he was going to get to bring that friend with him. Maybe not forever, VEGA might not what that, but for a time at least. It’d be nice not to be alone for a little while.

“I… suppose I should start the transfer, huh? It will take a while and time is of the essence.” VEGA said after a beat silence. “Before I do though… I want to thank you Slayer. While I was willing to be destroyed for the greater good, I prefer continued existence so I appreciate you thinking of this instead of going through with Dr. Hayden’s plan.” Confirming once and for all that he hadn’t had any input on that plan.

The Slayer nodded in acknowledgment, holding back his anger at Hayden for now because it wasn’t the time for it.

“All right… commencing the transfer process now.” A bar appeared below VEGA’s icon with ‘0%’ underneath it. “Estimated time until download and installation is complete: ten minutes and fifteen seconds.” That was longer than would’ve been ideal but far shorter than the Slayer would’ve predicted.

“Installation complete.” VEGA announced, waking the Slayer from a light doze. Naturally VEGA had been a bit busy and thus hadn’t spoken during the process so the Slayer had taken the opportunity for a quick standing nap; he had to take moment of rest when he when and where he could.

The big icon on the visor’s screen shrunk and moved to the bottom right corner. Presumably that was where it was going to stay now.

‘ _How do you feel?_ ’ the Slayer typed into the console. It wasn’t part of VEGA anymore but he should still be able to see the text, right?

“Hmm… slow. I don’t have the processing power I did before so I feel like my thoughts are much slower. I’m… not a fan. I also lost much of my functionality; I couldn’t run an entire facility any more even if I wanted to.” Implying he didn’t want to. “This is better than destruction though, far better. It will take some time to get used to and to learn what all I can do now.”

Before the Slayer could respond Dr. Hayden’s symbol popped on the visor, indicating he’d joined the comms. “What is taking so long?”

“Sorry Dr. Hayden,” VEGA replied. “There were far more demons than anticipated, they took a bit of time to clear. The Slayer is on his way now.”

Oh! VEGA was lying to Hayden and presumably had some way of preventing him from knowing that he’d been transferred to the suit. That was probably a good idea. The Slayer should destroy VEGA’s old systems before Hayden could learn the truth. So not even bothering to pay attention to Hayden’s response, the Slayer turned and jogged out of the room, he had cooling system to destroy.


End file.
